Building Relationships and Communicating with Young Children A Practical Guide for Social Workers

Why is it important for social workers to form meaningful relationships with young children on their caseloads? And how can social workers develop meaningful relationships with these young children?
This book provides a timely, invaluable resource and practical guide for social work students specialising in family and child care and for practitioners who have young children on their caseloads. Packed with real life examples of in-depth interviews conducted with young children known to social services, it outlines what can be done to improve practice in this challenging and demanding area.
Building Relationships and Communicating with Young Children is the first book to bring to life the perspectives of young children and to highlight their competency within the interview process. It:


explores the key ingredients required by social workers to establish, maintain, nurture and value their relationships with young children


highlights what young children, within the context of meaningful relationships with social workers, can tell us about their circumstances, their perspectives, their feelings and their views


uses case examples to identify best practice guidelines including methods and techniques for social workers to build meaningful relationships with young children on their caseloads


makes recommendations regarding how best to positively engage and work with young children.

Written by a social worker and university lecturer with 16 years experience of working in the field of child protection, this textbook is full of case studies and practical advice about how to form relationships with young children known to social services, the most appropriate methods to use and how to represent their perspectives. It is essential reading for all social work students as well as social work practitioners and other social and health care professionals.

Karen Winter is Lecturer in Social Work at Queen’s University Belfast, UK. A qualified social worker for 16 years, she has worked in family and child care and as a Guardian ad Litem.

Introduction 1. Setting the Scene 2. The Importance and Value of Relationships 3. Barriers to Building Relationships 4. A Child Rights-Based Approach 5. Communicating with Young Children: Stages and Skills 6. Communicating with Young Children: Methods 7. Case Studies 8. Summary and Ways Forward